“Critical metals will be a key battleground in US-China trade war,” suggests an article by Andy Home of Reuters, which explores the growing geopolitical importance of critical metals in the ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China. Home writes:
It’s clear that critical minerals will be China’s weapon of choice in its escalating trade war with the United States.
Every time Washington imposes new restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor chips to China, Beijing responds by tightening controls on exports of the critical inputs for chip manufacturers. […]
The price of antimony has rocketed from $13,000 per metric ton at the start of the year to $38,000 after China announced new export restrictions. The germanium price has jumped from $1,650 to $2,862 over the same period. […]
The U.S. is walking a fine line between using tariffs to reduce import dependency on China and not being hit with a full retaliatory trade ban before it can build its own replacement capacity.
This is a multi-faceted task given each critical metal has its own unique supply profile.
The common theme, however, is China’s control of global supply and it’s only a question of which component of the periodic table is next to be thrown into the escalating trade war.
